TURIN, ITALY.- Giovanni Agnelli, the head of the Fiat automobile business, died at the age of 81. He was an art collector and had established the Giovanni Agnelli Foundation, a private research and cultural institute operating in the field of human and social sciences. It is an endowed foundation under Italian law established in 1966 by FIAT and IFI (Istituto Finanziario Industriale) to celebrate the centenary of the birth of their founder, Senator Giovanni Agnelli. The Giovanni Agnelli Foundation headquarters are in Turin. It is member of the European Foundation Centre of Brussels, the association of the principal foundations active in Europe and has a seat in its Governing Council. In the words of its charter, the mission of the Giovanni Agnelli Foundation is ifurthering and spreading knowledge of the conditions on which Italy’s progress in economic, scientific, social and cultural fields depends’. Giovanni Agnelli was born in Turin in 1921. He graduated in Law from Turin University. During World War II he served as a Cavalry Officer in the Italian Expeditionary Force on the Russian front, with the "Lodi" Tank Reconnaissance Unit in Tunisia and in the "Legnano" Division of the Italian Liberation Corps. For his conduct in Tunisia he was awarded the War Cross for Military Valour.

He joined Fiat in 1943 as Vice Chairman, and was appointed Managing Director in 1963. From April 1966 until February 1996 he was Chairman of the Board, and became then Honorary Chairman. He was Chairman of IFI - Istituto Finanziario Industriale S.p.A., of the Exor Group SA, of the Giovanni Agnelli Foundation and of the La Stampa publishing company.

Agnelli was a member of the Boards of Eurofrance, the International Advisory Council of the Chase Manhattan Corporation, and the Board of Trustees of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. He played an active role in multinational organizations that foster international relations. He was a member of the Advisory Board of the Bilderberg Meetings, of the International Advisory Board of the Council on Foreign Relations, and Honorary Chairman of the Council for Relations between Italy and the United States. He was Honorary Vice Chairman of the Association for European Monetary Union.

He was a correspondent member of the Academy of Moral and Political Science of the Institut de France and a Member of the Chairman’s Council of the Museum of Modern Art of New York. He was Chairman of Confindustria from 1974 to 1976. He has been life Senator since June 1991, he was also Mayor of Villar Perosa from 1945 to 1980.